Camp NaNoWriMo Diary Days 1-7

Camp NaNoWriMo Diary – Week 1

My Camp NaNoWriMo Goals

April is all about writing the bones of my story. I know that there will need to be revisions after the fact but I just want to write, write, write, so that I have something to edit by the end of the month.

My Project goal is 65,000 words which is 2,167 words each day. For the sake of ease, I’m setting a word count goal of 2,200 words each day with the hopes of finishing early or even going over 65,000. (I have no idea how long the finished draft is going to be but I guessed it would be longer than 50,000).

Another one of my goals is to join in the writing community set up and fostered by the amazing people at NaNoWriMo. I’ve joined a cabin and am planning to try out word sprints on Twitter. I might even join a write-in if I’m feeling especially brave but I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one, I’m an introvert at heart after all.

April 1st – Word Count 2,415

Day one of Camp and I decided to participate in my first word sprint. I haven’t used Twitter in forever so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to get back into it. First thing I did was to start following @NaNoWordSprints and then I waited for the next sprint to start and got to work. My first sprint was a 30 mins sprint to 1k words. I will admit it was a little daunting. Time to swallow my fears and jump right in. It was amazing! I managed to get to 1,059 in my first sprint! Continuing with the positive momentum, I kept working and finished the day at 2,415 words! I couldn’t be happier!

April 2nd – Word Count 5,746

Yesterday was so much fun doing the sprints on Twitter that I decided to jump into them again this morning. I made it just in time for another 30 mins to 1k sprint and ended up writing 1,038 words. This definitely boosted my confidence in my ability to write more than 2k each day. After a little artistic break with my daughter, and lunch, I was back at it for some more sprints. I think I did 3 sprints and ended up writing 3,331 words total for the day! It feels great to be ahead in the word count early!

April 3rd – Word Count 8,601

Today I was back for more sprints over on Twitter. They aren’t doing them with the same frequency as during NaNoWriMo but there are still plenty happening throughout the day (depending on your time zone.)

Here’s a breakdown of my sprints today:

13 mins -415 words

5 mins – 218 words

20 mins -679 words

30 mins – 911 words

I did some writing between sprints and after the last one finished, I ended up with 2,855 words for the day! Above the word count goal for another day!

April 4th – Word Count 10,859

Wooo!!! I broke 10K today! 10K is a big milestone and I’m really pleased with my progress so far. I jumped in for some more sprints, they really get you going and force you to focus on writing, not editing.

Today’s sprints-

20 mins – 479

30 mins – 962

10 mins – 331

10 mins – 486

I don’t know what happened on that first sprint! Actually it’s called trying to write with Instagram open! I finished the day with 2,258 words written!

April 5th – Word Count 13,252

Another great day of writing. I’m really trying to rack up the words while I’m super motivated and excited about my story. I went into this camp with every scene mapped out. These worksheets from eadeverell.com helped me figure out exactly what needed to happen in each scene and some specifics about what I wanted to include. I’m so glad I did this because I can jump into any scene and just start writing no problem.

I did have a problem that I didn’t know how to solve during the prepping process, and I’m happy that it kind of worked itself out while I was writing! More sprints again today, I can’t help it. I’m addicted!!

Sprint Stats:

10 mins – 308

15 mins – 444

15 mins – 430

15 mins – 427

10 mins – 281

I did some writing between sprints, (I was on a roll!!) so my total for the day was 2,393 words!! I’m so so happy with my progress and the story is moving along nicely!

April 6th – Word Count 15,456

Today was a tougher writing day. I sat down to do some writing but there weren’t any sprints going on so I was on my own. I’m much less focused when I’m not trying to beat the clock! I did one sprint earlier this morning, 555 words in about 20 mins. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to finish if I hadn’t done that sprint this morning.

Part of the problem might have been that I spent the majority of my time writing a scene I hadn’t planned on writing! It’s kind of funny how those things happen. I needed something to set up for another scene (that one was planned) and I just started writing. Before I knew it, I’d gone on for almost 1,400 words! I managed to reach my daily word count goal of 2,200 but only just. The day ended with 2,204 words and am so relieved to be finished. Hopefully tomorrow goes a little easier.

April 7th- Word Count 18,102

Today’s writing session really surprised me! I started earlier in the day because I wanted to get this blog post out. It helped me to focus and let my fingers create. Since it was early, there weren’t any sprints going on so I just worked at my own pace. I didn’t use any music this week but I might try some Brain Power music I found on YouTube, for when I write next week. Brain.fm was my go-to music earlier this year, their focus music was great but I ran out my free trial so to YouTube I went! I’m glad I was able to find some resources there.

Today was fun because I was able to write a really mean character. Writing this character was like saying all the things you want to say to people but social norms will not allow. There are no consequences here because the characters aren’t real!! It’s fun to think like a meanie once in a while too. I wrote one thing, and then was like: I can’t believe she said that! Haha! Word count total for today was: 2,652 words. Above and beyond what I was hoping to get done!

A Week In Review

Here’s a look at my stats from the CampNaNoWriMo page.

All in all, it was a fantastic first week of writing. I am getting down a lot of words, some of which I know I’ll cut but they all help me get into my story. Over explaining things, and adding unnecessary detail is a way for me to really immerse myself in the characters and settings. I know that I can always take them out later but for now they are helping.

I did notice that even with all of the planning I did in preparation for this month, it still wasn’t enough! I neglected to think about tertiary characters which caused me to have a bit of a block. I got stuck with not having names for the characters because I hadn’t taken the time to flesh them out and figure out what makes them tick. It’s something I’m going to have to do soon if I don’t want to keep getting stuck. A good lesson to learn and luckily it didn’t hold me back too badly!

How is Camp NaNoWriMo progressing for you? Follow me on Twitter for some word sprint fun and join me next Friday for a re-cap of my Camp NaNoWriMo Diary –Week 2!